90 Minutes of Freedom by Jamie Grundy tells the story of HMP Prescoed FC, the only prisoner football team in Wales, during the 2018/19 season. It contains interviews with each of the players who are all serving prisoners. They explain how football is more than just a game. For these men it helps them to adjust to society, assists their anger management and crucially it prepares them for a future away from jail. Supported by Sporting Heritage and released to coincide with National Sporting Heritage Day 2019, 90 Minutes of Freedom is a rare story of a what it means to be a prisoner footballer.
With a Foreword by former Wales goalkeeper Neville Southall, 90 Minutes of a Freedom is a unique book on probably the most unique football team in Wales.
Prescoed FC and 90 Minutes of Freedom have been featured on the BBC, Wales Online, Wales Football Magazine, Late Tackle, Alliance of Sport, When Saturday Comes and many others.
For the season 2020/21 Prescoed FC were originally refused entry to play in the Gwent Central League, forcing Jamie to launch a passionate defence of their right to participate, in partnership with HMP Prescoed. See the BBC coverage here. An appeal was heard by the Gwent County FA and Prescoed were duly reinstated. You can see all the highlights, and how the battle unfolded, by visiting the Prescoed campaign page, where victory was eventually declared.
Due to the Coronavirus Pandemic a planned trip to New York with the book was cancelled at the last minute, but fortunately New York Welsh recorded a socially distant podcast with Jamie. Click on the picture to listen.
Jamie and ’90 Minutes of Freedom’ were featured on Hawksbee & Jacobs on Talksport back in 2019.
Listen to a podcast from Sporting Heritage featuring HMP Prescoed staff and ‘John’ from the book.